#Robert Gates

[dadsinsuits]

Robert Gates

[politicaldilfs]

Robert Gates, Liam Fox, & Lech Wałęsa

[justapotatoeater]

We were warned ⚠️

[inprimalinie]

Fost șef al CIA face apel la atacarea podului din Crimeea - VIDEO

Fostul șef al CIA, fostul secretar american al apărării Robert Gates, a făcut apel la atacarea podului din Crimeea. Georgiana Arsene Cred că a le da ucrainenilor capacitatea de a ataca ținte, spre exemplu, în Crimeea, mi se pare un lucru ușor de făcut. Este teritoriul lor. Dacă vor decide să atace obiective, vor ataca obiective din interiorul Ucrainei, nu din interiorul Rusiei, indiferent de…

[carolinemillerbooks]

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/thoughts-about-the-kitchen-table/

Thoughts About The Kitchen Table

At the retirement center, a woman approached me to compliment a  blog I had written.  My reply was to shrug and say the words hadn’t amounted to much.   Later, I recanted, realizing my false humility had made light of her opinion. To be honest, I’d worked hard on that blog. Why pretend otherwise? And why stifle a conversation that could have been enlightening?  I know the answer. I was striving to make an impression.  What distinguishes humans from pebbles on the beach is our self-awareness.  Mindfulness may never answer the question, “Why am I here,” but it builds better societies.  When we understand our motivations and those of others, we allow ourselves to grow wiser and more tolerant. Narrow thinking leads to negative outcomes, like Hostile architecture.  Slanted bus stops to discourage the homeless from taking a nap, or spikes set along a thoroughfare built for the same purpose may deter vagrants, but they are also impediments for people using walkers or wheelchairs and for the visually impaired.  Shelters built for the homeless might be a better use of taxpayer dollars.  Tyrants who focus on themselves are likewise vulnerable to narrow objectives. As former U. S. Secretary of State Robert Gates observed of Vladimir Putin, the Russian President so feared a democratic, modern, and prosperous  Ukraine as an alternative model for Russians next door, [ ] he started a war with his neighbor. (“The Dysfunctional Superpower,” by Robert M. Gates, Foreign Affairs, Nov/Dec 2023, pg. 37.) Unable to assess his limitations, Putin now finds himself mired in a long and costly war.  Unfortunately, some members of the United States Congress suffer the same myopia. Rather than compromise on the national budget, they force the government to survive on a series of continuing resolutions– a strategy that endangers the country’s creditworthiness and safety. China’s military budget is ballooning while continuing resolutions that hold government agencies to the previous year’s budget deprive our Defense Department of the money to innovate. (Ibid, pg 39.) Common sense would tell us war is a poor substitute for peace. Even victors are forced to live in fear of those they have conquered. Little wonder that power struggles seldom take us beyond the present. Hammas and Israelis slaughter one another for a strip of land. They fail to see the planet is already on fire.  Twice in recent days, the earth’s temperature has crossed a threshold scientists warn will lead to catastrophic and irreversible impacts for homo sapiens.  If all the soldiers in all the skirmishes that scar the planet manage to survive, their reward will be to witness the extermination of mankind.   If we are honest, the faults of our leaders reflect our own.  As a species, we prefer short-term solutions to long-term gains. That’s why would-be leaders talk to us about “kitchen table” issues.  They pander to our self-interests rather than remind us of our duty as citizens.  Yet what has the price of gasoline to do with democracy? Conflating one with the other reduces government to its lowest denominator, as if building a society dedicated to values like justice, liberty, and fraternity were secondary.  A government based upon what we can get rather than what we can share makes no demands upon us. All we require are simple answers and tyrants specialize in those.   These Pied Pipers would have us focus on them, encouraging us to believe the fate of the country rests upon their shoulders. And some among us do believe.   One woman called former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson a messenger from God. (“Outfoxed,” by Brian Stelter, Vanity Fair, Dec/Jan 2023/4, pg. 74.)  Private truths like hers are impervious to facts.  Too many in that frame of mind can form a cancer in the body politic. Left unchecked, we may one day wake to find ourselves in a country no longer united as “we the people,” but one divided between “them and us.” The cure for chaos begins at the cellular level.  Each of us has a duty to our democracy.  Without that commitment, no government of the people, by the people, and for the people will endure.  Let us remember the words of John F. Kennedy at his first inauguration.  … ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.  (inaugural address, 1961.)” 

[theterry]

Neil Roberts, the VA for default Durge, voice acted the Prayer for Forgiveness. I'm unwell.

[sunsetagain]

just wanted to see how Astarion would look in this.

custom couture designed by Robert Wun

[megalomari]

Besties who recommend trashy smut to each other ✨

[femondoetus]

Orin by Robert R

[righthandedleftturn]

Star Trek CMO’s (Chief Medical Officer)

[coolseabird]

Every Literary Reference Gale Makes When Selected in BG3 (That I Could Find)

"Oh, what a tangled Weave we web!" -

A play on words referencing the famous quote, "Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive," from Sir Walter Scott's poem "Marmion."

"What fools these mortals be." -

A quote from William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream," spoken by the character Puck.

"All the world's my stage and you're just a player in it." -

A reference to the famous Shakespearean line, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players," from "As You Like It."

"No rest for the wicked" -

A phrase that originates from the Bible Isaiah 48:22 There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.

"To hold the world in the palm of one's hand" -

I believe this is a reference to this part of the poem Auguries of Innocence by William Blake: To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour.

"'Doth thy mirror crack?' Apparently not." -

I was so sure this was a quote from some Shakespearean play but nope lol. This is a Waterdhavian phrase that was mentioned in a DnD companion book at some point.

"Seek and you shall find me." -

From the bible. Specifically Matthew 7:7–8 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

The path less travelled. -

A reference to Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken," which includes the line, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by."

"Creator. Destroyer." -

This is a reference to the Lord Krishna's words in the Bhagavad Gita. O Arjuna, I am the creator, maintainer and destroyer of all created objects, such as the sky. Of all knowledge I am knowledge of the self, and in logical debate I am vāda, the philosophical principle that asserts the conclusive truth.

"A rough tempest I will raise" -

I found the explanation behind this quote from a reddit post: "Shakespeare - Tempest, - this is a mash-up of two quotes: In Act V, Scene 1, Prospero uses the phrasing "when first I raised the Tempest". In the same scene, he recites a soliloquy about the great works of magic he has accomplished, before finally renouncing magic altogether: " … But this rough magic I here abjure" https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/17uher2/literary_references_in_gales_selection_remarks/ (this person came to the same conclusions as me for many of the prior quotes but I only used their post for this one haha)

I almost certainly missed a few! If there are any others please feel free to reblog and add them!

[dadsinsuits]

Robert Gates

[politicaldilfs]

Liam Fox & Robert Gates

[undergroundrockpress]

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco / Spring Equinox, 1969.

Photos : Robert Altman.

[robertpallesen]

Gate, Portland, OR © Robert Pallesen

[lexixxc]

my bloody bride